PETER CROUCH and Fernando Torres are often described as the most natural striking partnership at Anfield.

There’s no doubt that they’re the most in-form pairing at present, so I think now is the time to see if they can develop into a decent strike force.

Saturday’s match against Sunderland was only the third time they’ve started a match together in the Premier League, and there were one or two signs that they could flourish.

But the fact is we will never know unless we give them a chance to gel.

I’ve written before that Peter Crouch has done nothing wrong this season, and with three goals in his last three appearances he’s flying.

But his presence can also help Fernando Torres.

By virtue of his height alone, he occupies one or two defenders, giving Torres more room to operate in, and he showed with the flick-on that created Torres’ goal that he can be very much a traditional target man.

In situations like that it’s important that one player is able to anticipate the flick-ons of the other, but Torres is a very intelligent striker and that will never be a problem to a player of his class.

Crouch and Torres scored the goals which gave Liverpool the platform for what might have seemed a straightforward victory.

But throughout the first half especially it was anything but straightforward.

A goalless first half might have brought in my bet once again (draw half-time, Liverpool win full-time!) but it didn’t do much for the fans’ nerves.

Bob Paisley always used to tell us to have a shot or two in the first 10 minutes of a home match – it didn’t matter if it flew wide – it was just to get the crowd going.

Once the crowd got going then that generated a mood where you could really go at teams.

Throughout most of this season in our home matches we’ve been far too patient, cautiously probing for openings rather than going all for it.

We usually do have a 20 minute spell in the second half when we take control, but I’m sure we could do that much earlier by being a little more ambitious.

It took the Kop to start chanting “Attack! Attack!” before we finally started committing numbers forward and it was no surprise when a right-back crossed to spark the goal rush.

The three points was always going to be vitally important, and it was nice to score three goals into the bargain.

But just for once I wouldn’t mind if my half-time full-time bet didn’t come in, because we were already coasting by the interval!

Why Reina is worth his weight in gold

PEOPLE talk about Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres being Liverpool’s two key players, the most influential stars whose absence simply cannot be overcome.

I think we should be adding Pepe Reina’s name to that list, too.

Pepe claimed another club record on Saturday when his shut-out against Sunderland saw him become the quickest goalkeeper to keep 50 clean sheets in the league.

He achieved the feat in a remarkable 92 matches, beating Ray Clemence by three games, while my old team-mate Bruce Grobbelaar took 109 games.

It’s a proud claim and underlines his consistency.

When Reina first arrived at Anfield I was a little unsure of his quality, perhaps because I was such a fan of Jerzy Dudek.

But he quickly settled down and one of the qualities which really impressed me was his distribution of the ball.

He kicks the ball quickly and accurately – I think he’s even claimed a couple of assists this season – and whenever he makes a decent save he’s always straight back on his feet again within seconds looking to give his side possession.

He’s a top class individual and certainly as valuable to the side as Gerrard and Torres.

I don’t think you can offer him a higher compliment.

Kenny was sheer inspiration

I WAS thrilled to hand over the Bill Shankly Memorial Award to Kenny Dalglish last night.

Kenny is, quite simply, the best player Liverpool have ever had – and to receive an award in Shanks’ name was totally appropriate.

Passing the trophy to him at the Echo Arena was the least I could do. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Kenny myself.

When I first came into the first team there’s no doubt I was in awe of him, but he quickly relaxed me and told me I was there simply to score goals, to let him do all the other jobs.

It was after I’d been in the side a couple of years that he started telling me to take on other responsibilities and he turned me into a much better player.

It’s a role I tried to adopt myself when Robbie Fowler broke into the Liverpool side and I was the experienced player looking after him.

I’ve never forgotten what Kenny did for me and I’m delighted that he’s the Bill Shankly Memorial Award winner.